This invention relates to an electric engine starter for cranking an internal combustion engine and more particularly to an electric starter that is constructed to protect the starter from substances such as water that can enter the starter.
Electric engine starters or cranking motors are provided with a starter drive housing which encloses a starter drive that has a pinion. This housing has an access opening which allows the pinion to be shifted into mesh with the ring gear of the engine. Engine starters are mounted on an engine of a motor vehicle and are located close to the ground. Therefore, the starter can be subjected to road splash with the result that various substances or materials such as water, saltwater, road oil, and debris can enter the starter through the access opening. These substances or contaminants can cause, among other things, the overrunning clutch to corrode and stick to the shaft and the substances can corrode the plunger of the solenoid to a point that it will not pull in and thus, prevent the pinion from meshing with the ring gear.